While on a 5-speed you would be correct, on the 6-speed 5th is the direct drive.

Good catch. Missed the mention of the 6 speed.

P/N on CXRacing intercooler? AIT (MAT) rise at full power? CLT temp at full power, or in general while beating on it.

It's this one.
CXRacing Universal Front Mount Turbo Intercooler FMIC 19.5"x6"x2.5" For Miata

As for your questions, honestly it starts to worrying me. I was seeing today as high as 140° at a 90° day just doing errands in the city.
Non summer months it's usually in the 100 range and would climb to 130~ at redline non stop pulls.
I have two options I think about. One is a vibrant 12800 core. Pricey for me - shipping and taxes.
The other option is to attach a 5" spal to it. Any thoughts about that? Would it extract unnecessary heat to the radiator? Would it do anything above a certain speed?
I would get my thoughts on the cooling system thread if I can't get answers here.

P.S I'll have a comparison with the 60$ 27" eBay IC when a buddy of mine installs his in the upcoming month.
Should be interesting.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...66af8a8b71.jpg
This thing of beauty just came in. Signed up for a track day at the 28th of July. Will be as hot as it gets. This should be a good test of its capablities.
Hats off to the 949 crew for a super fast and fair priced shipping overseas.
will update in a few days after installation.

This bad boy is so pretty, I need to wash my engine bay now. Friggin' middle east sand..

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...76361d0f76.jpg

Exciting times here as we have our very first proper track after 70 years.
And the honor of crashing first goes to:

Next update will probably be after the track day end of next month. I already bought oem shock bushings from FM in preparation for the coilovers I'll buy by the end of the year, haven't decided which yet. Also thinking about redoing the control arms' bushings. We'll see.

Track day was fun. Went well without major issues apart from a slight overheating. We arrived there very early as this time of the year you can't drive there past 10:00 o'clock due to heat. They hooked us all Miata guys to the same group and it was great fun comparing to other guys' setups. One car that impressed me the most was a new black ND with well tuned Ohlins that gave me a run for my money in the slower parts of the track.
That thing was dancing on the track while I was holding for dear life for some hope of grip (Still on stock coilovers remind you).
I was hitting 224f at the last lap of the fourth session in what was a fairly hot day (85f ambient at that point).
For me this indicates that the 949 crossflow is an amazing piece of kit for a couple of reasons. One being I don't have any ducting at this point and no hood vents. Car is AC equipped and running stock fans.
2nd reason is my friend with a hyper-v koyo and FM-like spal setup was overheating to the same point one session earlier than me. Although he was running two more pounds of boost than me (10 vs 12), I know he doesn't push as hard as me.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fccc4dd51b.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fd5d48892d.jpg

And a video clip from yesterday

A big month of upgrades and treats.

First there was this nice canvas robbins top
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e5e28d88d0.jpg

Then a nice used set of KW v1's I have been waiting on for a few months

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...93970b319e.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...80d263edad.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7b16af8d7f.jpg

Got it aligned as well
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fe57fad3c2.jpg

All in time for a track day this Saturday.
Also bought a set of R_Theory hood vents from the group buy.

Track day was just so-so. A friend with an fm2 blew his engine up and that made me anxious about mine and the fun went out with it. Turned the boost down to wg pressure after that.
Coliovers worked great but I need to get better tires as they overheated and I was all over the place. I am also a bit too much heavy on the gas pedal, needs more patience at the tighter sections.

Engine still overheated to 108c even though there was a peak of just 22c by the time I left. Let's see if the R_Theory vents will help.

When are you going to add a rollbar?

That's a good question really, dunno to be honest.

Just got the R_Theory hood vents.
Can't decide between painting it black or leave it unpainted. Last thing I need is drawing attention because the black can stand out.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e535a07da4.jpg

I'm thinking of painting mine silver, bronze, or the same color as the car.

Hankook RS-3's fitted (No RS-4's in this poor country) along with new front oem discs and pads. Wanted to try Porterfield but couldn't pass a deal a Mazda dealer had.
Not quite ready for track season yet as the engine overheats and I suspect my thermostat is stuck closed. Ordered the 180 stant everyone is using.
Still no balls to cut the hood.

Seems like a failed CSF rad cap. First one was bent in shipping, this one wouldn't seal well and allowed air in.
Burped the system with the Lisle funnel, swapped to a no name 1.1 cap I had laying around and all was well.

Finally had the balls to cut the hood, albeit without the center vent (Which is important I know). Now I can't stand the turbo whistles with the top down. Thinking about doing the center vent and just get another hood and hook up this one for trackdays.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e5e352ae6a.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...793a301b00.jpg


Yesterday at the track had a few hiccups. After the first session my gas pedal stuck open. Turns out my throttle cable was jammed. Some 5w-30 and a lot of pumping it was loose and ok.
I was lucky this didn't happen on track. Missed a session or two.
After my second run my heater return hose let out in a dramatic fashion, oddly enough this happened again between sessions and while the engine wasn't running. 2nd time lucky.
Blocked off the heater core and used up everybody's drinking water :rofl:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...32358f7b09.jpg

I will extend my turbo heat shield as far as I can, also ordered some begi heat sleeves which supposedly are rated for 2000f.
Overall I was pretty happy with how the car felt on track with the RS3's. Felt some overheating of the tires during my 3rd run.
Hit 221f on that run while 72f ambient.
I can see a slight improvement on temps but don't have a good indication as I missed some running.

Ordered amsoil mtg for the trans, energy bushings front and rear, motor mounts and some misc goodies

Melted throttle cable, melted speedometer cable, baked heater hoses, melted dipstick handle dripping molten plastic into the engine oil (causing oil pump relief to stick and destroy the engine), melted brake reservoir, cooked left front brake line, cooked CAS (NA8), etc. have all been seen here. Shield everything in direct line of sight of the manifold, turbine housing, and downpipe. Radiant heat works like sunlight, in straight lines from the source. Think of the difference between standing in the sun versus standing in the shade. Shade everything.

Thanks Steve, duly noted.

I finally made a dream come true when I ordered the Storm S1 in 16x8.
Stupid laws mean I cannot change wheel size without paying "that guy". And no big choice of tires in 15" means I am staying oem size.
Tire Rack is having a sale and I couldn't pass it up. Now the small challenge of making it through customs.

Wastegate is toast. Turbosmart 7 psi unit to be installed.

In other news... I have a trubo kitty.
I never would have thought this was possible. I had been around pitbulls my whole life. About a year ago I lost my 14 year old soulmate and was heartbroken since.
Couldn't have imagined myself adopting another dog let alone a cat.
All changed when these two little kittens showed up near the house and were begging for food. We were contemplating getting them inside the house because we both work full time and we never owned a cat let alone two.
Few days later and the black one was missing, we hope adopted, so we decided to bring in the other girl.
I still hope one day to rescue a pitbull, but most probably it would have to be a puppy so it can grow up with a cat.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5e06d4b438.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1e937def28.jpg